A Familiar Bark
by LilPadfootChicky
Summary: Harry's never stopped blaming himself for that fatal night in the Department of Mysteries. This is my tribute to the wonderful Sirius Black! no longer a oneshot! FULL PLOT HAS FINALLY BEEN DEVELOPED! this is also mystery/action/horrorish for Sirius fans!
1. Meatloaf?

A Familiar Bark

Disc: I dnt own it… duh

Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had just finished their fifth year at Hogwarts. They were saying their goodbyes, making plans for the summer.

"Remember, your both coming over, okay?" Ron asked for about the hundredth time. His friends nodded as they made their way over to the other Weasleys. Molly told them all to be good, and that she'd send for them in about three weeks. Harry looked around and saw his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia waiting for him.

"See you guys later." He said quietly. They hugged him bye then he went over to his uncle. As usual, they said nothing to him, just went to the car, Harry following quietly behind. Silently they drove away, Harry staring out the window, thinking. He did that a lot now.

'_It's my fault he's gone...'_ He would repeat over and over to himself, replaying the night.

They pulled into the driveway of number four Privet Drive. Harry got out, took his belongings, and headed up to his room. He could hear Dudley's radio playing loudly in the next room over.

"Harry Potter! Get down here! You have jobs to do!" Uncle Vernon's voice yelled up the stairs. Grudgingly, Harry made his way back downstairs.

"Go water the flowers, and weed the garden. Come back when your done and we'll give you more jobs." Harry obeyed without a word. Heading out to the garden, he grabbed the hose and turned it on.

After about fifteen minutes of gardening in the heat, Harry's head started to spin. He thought he heard smoke plants rustle behind him. Looking back, he thought he saw a black objects running into the bushes.

'_Harry! What's wrong with you? Sirius is d-dead! And he's never coming back!' _Harry thought, now angry with himself. He blamed it on the heat, and began working on the huge garden once again.

"So, Harry. I hear that convict godfather of yours died. Is it true that it was your fault?" Dudley came out of the house with a cup of ice cold lemonade. Harry froze.

"So it is true." Dudley said, taunting Harry worse then ever. He started to drink the lemonade, making sure Harry saw it. He didn't care about it though. It was his fault Sirius had died, he deserved this treatment. He turned back to the shrub he was on and began working. Dudley, realizing it wasn't working anymore, went back in the house.

Another twenty minutes later, Harry was finally done. He walked back into the house and told his uncle.

"Good, now go walk the dog." He said without looking up from his paper. Harry turned to leave, then paused.

"D-dog? Since when do we have a dog?" he asked confused.

"Since he followed Dudley home. It's Dudley's dog. Now go, Meatloafs out in the garden." Uncle Vernon still didn't look up from his paper. Harry made his way back outside.

"Meatloaf? Are you here?" Harry called unenthusiastically. He wasn't all to happy to be around dogs just yet.

A large, black, shaggy dog came bounding up to him.

"Hey, boy. You look just like…Sirius did." Harry fell silent. The dog whimpered a little and licked Harry's face.

"Come on. Lets get this walk done." Harry picked up his leash and hooked it on the dog. He lead him through the back gate and onto the road. Meatloaf wasn't pulling Harry along, but he was going from side to side, chasing birds and squirrels. Harry couldn't help but laugh as this grown dog acted like an energetic puppy.

They walked around the block a couple times, then headed back home. Dudley came to greet his dog.

"Meatloaf! Come here!" Dudley said when he heard the door shut. The dog whimpered and hid behind Harry.

"It's alright boy. Go on, I'll take you for another walk tomorrow." Harry whispered to the dog. Meatloaf slowly made his way over to Dudley, who offered him a cookie for no reason. He took it hesitantly. Harry, who was done with his jobs, went up to his room to think.

'_That poor dog. Dudley's going to ruin him.' _Harry thought. His guilty feeling not present. The dog somehow made him forget about that. It was 10:30 at night, and Harry was having a dream. Sirius was talking to him, blaming Harry for his death. Then his door creaked. Meatloaf walked into his room. Harry suddenly woke up.

"Hey, boy. You scared me." Meatloaf jumped onto Harry's bed and curled up next to him. He absently began petting the dog's head. Next thing he knew, they were both peacefully asleep.

Harry was woken up by Meatloaf licking his face. He mumbled slightly, then rolled over. Meatloaf continued to lick his face.

"Alright, alright. I'm up." Harry said pushing the dog off of him. He got out of bed and went to do him chores. Meatloaf followed him around the whole day.

Several weeks of this went by. Meatloaf wouldn't let anyone but Harry care for him. This made Dudley really mad. He began trying to hit the dog, but Harry always stood up for him. The dog seemed to ease his pain. When Harry slept, if Meatloaf wasn't there, he would have a dream where Sirius was yelling at him.

It was the night before Harry was to leave for the Burrow. Meatloaf was laying at the foot of Harry's bed, as usual. Then a voice came out of nowhere.

"_Harry…" _He sat upright and looked around. Meatloaf was looking at him, but there was no one else around.

"_Harry…" _He heard it again. But this time he thought he recognized it.

"S-sirius?" Harry said. The dog nodded. "What?" He was completely confused now.

"_Don't you recognize me? The way I act?" _Harry knew the voice in his head was coming from the dog. Harry ran over and hugged the dog.

"Sirius! Why haven't you talked before this?" Harry whispered, not wanting to wake the Dursleys.

"_Harry, I only have a limited time to talk to you. You need to stop blaming yourself. No one could have predicted what was going to happen." _Sirius said into Harry's head.

"When do you stop talking?" Harry asked sadly.

"_Midnight…" _Sirius' voice was sad. Harry looked at the clock. It was 11:59.

"Sirius, I'm so sorry." Harry hugged the dog closer. But Sirius' only reply was a quiet bark. Harry lay back down, he couldn't wait to tell Ron that Sirius was back.

_A/N: _Sucky ending…I know. Review and tell me how much you liked it…or how much you didn't like it! Flames will be given to my pet dragon, Bubbles!


	2. Laughing hurts so bad

Chapter 1: Laughing hurts so bad

The next morning, Harry woke up lying on the floor. He shook his head.

"Mornin' Meatloaf. I had the weirdest dream. You were Sirius. Just wishful thinking, I know." He scratched the dog behind his ears. The shaggy dog cocked his head. Those big brown eyes looked deeply into Harry. He could have sworn he heard the dog's voice in his head, but knew that wasn't possible.

"Potter! Get up!" Dudley came running, more like thundering, up the stairs. He pounded on his cousin's door. "Dad's got something for you!" He said much too gleefully. Harry, dreading his fate, slowly stood up.

"Come on, boy." Harry patted his thigh to signal the dog. Meatloaf quickly ran to block Harry from the exit. "What on earth are you doing?" The canine stood on its hind legs and placed its front paws on Harry's shoulder.

"If you take off the fur, I think you could be Sirius…?" The boy whispered quickly. Meatloaf gave a loud bark and began to run in circles around Harry. "Y-you mean last night was real?" Again, the dog barked, even louder.

"Sirius!" Harry immediately dropped to his knees. He embraced the dog, and Meatloaf/Sirius licked his face merrily.

"Get down here now, boy! And keep that ruddy dog quiet!" Uncle Vernon's voice rang throughout the house. Harry led Sirius down to the kitchen.

"Hello, Dudley said you had something for me?" He said in too happy of a voice for Vernon.

"Happy Birthday, now get to work." He grinned evilly then turned to his wife. Harry's mind spun.

'_I'm sixteen… I'm sixteen!'_ He thought excitedly. Then, looking over his list, his heart sank.

Clean Kitchen (again?), weed the garden (I bet Dudley's planting the weeds! They can't grow that fast!), walk the dog (he's coming with me, so I shouldn't have to.); Get the bloody hell out of here until next summer! (Not a problem!)

Thinking it could have been much harder, he gladly set to work. Meatloaf followed him, as always.

Five hours later, all the work was done. He could have been done within two, but while he was weeding the garden, Dudley tracked muddy footprints all through the kitchen. And somehow managed to get the ceiling as well.

Harry ran up the stairs to pack. In less then half an hour he would be gone for a year! Sirius ran about, dragging books from behind the many piles of clothes.

"Thanks, Snuffles." Harry threw them unceremoniously into his trunk. "Last thing." He walked over to the dresser and picked up the photo album Hagrid had given him at the end of first year. "Look, there you are. At my parents' wedding." He flipped to the page with Sirius slapping James on the back. Both had huge smiles on their faces, never knowing the fates that awaited them. Snuffles' head dropped, and he let out a small whine.

"I miss him too…" Harry lifted Sirius' head up, and attempted a joke. "I wouldn't mind having a stag follow me around. Never have to walk again!" The dog's head came up slightly, but remained low.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

"Potter! Get down here; those ruddy friends of yours are here!" Vernon called up. Before Harry could respond, a red haired boy, and bushy haired girl came flying threw his door.

"Harry!" Hermione's arms wrapped themselves around his neck. "We've missed you so much! Come on!" Ron ginned at his best mate, and then walked over to help lift his trunk.

"To bad we can't use magic yet, would be really useful right now. Who's the dog?" Ron asked. Harry's smile widened.

"This is snuffles; he followed Dudley home one night. But he's grown attached to me." Subconsciously, he reached down to scratch him behind the ears.

"Snuffles… but…?" Hermione gave him a bewildered look. "Harry?" The raven-haired boy didn't respond, just gave his friend a knowing look.

"Oh! Harry! But… how do you know?" Ron looked between his mates, completely lost.

"A little explaining would be wonderful, you know." He stated loudly. As they reached the bottom of the living room, Harry shook his head and mouthed

'Later.'

The Dursley's watched from the doorway as the trio, plus Mr. Weasley, walked to a black Mercedes.

"Nice car, Mr. Weasley." Harry commented. The balding man nodded enthusiastically.

"Molly let me get it if I promised not to tinker." Harry gave him a questioning gaze. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her." He said quieter. The boys laughed. But Hermione huffed.

"I don't think you should keep secrets from your wife. And you just lied to her!" She said. Ron and Harry exchanged looks.

"'Mione, he didn't _really _lie to her…" Ron started.

"Just, stretched the truth." Harry finished. She glared at their hopeful looks.

"You won't tell, will you?" Ron asked worriedly.

"Have I ever told on the two of you?" She asked back. The red head smiled.

"I knew you wouldn't." She simply rolled her eyes at the boy. As they pulled into the open country, Mr. Weasley hit a purple button. The car vibrated some, and then turned invisible, along with its passengers. The push of a blue button later and they were flying.

The rest of the trip was filled with talk of plans for the summer. Sirius sat with his tongue flying as his head hung out the window. Time flew by, and they hardly noticed as the Burrow came into sight.

"Ah, home, sweet home." Ron said happily. The car lowered to the ground, and became visible once more. Arthur coasted into the garage next to their house. He gave them each a desperate look, Hermione two, and then led the way into his house.

Ginny walked out of the house before they'd gone a foot.

"You better watch yourselves. Mum's in a rage." She said. Ron looked at his dad.

"Don't worry, it was Fred and George. They set fire to their room." At Hermione's frightened expression, she added "On accident, of course!" Cautiously, the five made their way into the house.

"Arthur! Where have you been! Fred and George made an explosion! And I can't catch them because they won't stop bloody apparating!" Molly screamed as soon as they opened the door. Ron held back a laugh. "For heaven's sake! Don't just stand there like stunned toad! Help me!" Reluctantly, Mr. Weasley walked into the living room. Ginny quickly led them past the chaos and up to the second floor. Hermione and she headed for their room.

"Harry and I'll be upstairs. Tell us if you do anything interesting." Harry followed Ron, Sirius padding softly behind.

"Is that your dog, Harry? He looks so much like…" Ginny caught herself just in time. "I'm sorry! I didn't… It just…!" Harry held up his hand.

"Don't worry, Gin. And now that you reminded me, there's something I need to tell the three of you." Harry led them up to his and Ron's room.

"What is it? Where'd you find that dog?" Ron asked.

"This… well it's complicated… but see… don't think I'm crazy… wow this is harder them I thought." He paused and looked as his dog. Snuffles simply lay his head down on Harry's lap for comfort. "This is Sirius. He spoke to me last night. For the last ten minutes until midnight." Snuffles barked, as if to confirm. His three friends were speechless.

"Harry…" Hermione began sadly.

"I know what you're going to say, 'Mione. And I don't care if you believe me or not. I know this is Sirius. I know he told me so last night." He said confidently. Since the conversation started, Ginny had been silently staring at the dog, who was now staring back.

"I believe you. It's like there's actually a human behind those eyes." She said softly. Harry beamed at her.

"I knew you would!" Sirius jumped up and licked her face. Then Ron, with his head cocked to the side, spoke.

"So he can understand us, but we can't get a word out of him. That's bloody fair." He said the last part sarcastic. Sirius jumped past Ginny, and across the bed to Ron.

"Down, boy. Merlin I missed you!" He hugged the dog tightly around the neck. Hermione was staring in shock at her friends.

"But, but where's the evidence? There's no logic at all! Harry are you sure you haven't just found an extremely lonely dog, who loves attention?" She asked skeptically. Ron rolled his eyes.

"He followed Dudley home. And I know he talked to me, Hermione. I wasn't imagining it." He looked her dead in the eye. She bit her lip.

"Oh…" She looked at Snuffles. "Come here, Sirius!" The shaggy dog switched to licking her face. He jumped off the bed and began to run in excited circles. The teens sat watching him fondly for a moment before someone broke the silence.

"Sorry to break the happiness. But who else are we going to tell?" Hermione asked. Harry looked to Snuffles.

"Well, I guess we could start listing names. One bark is yes, two is no, Okay?" He asked. Snuffy gave one clear bark.

"Mr. or Mrs. Weasley?" two loud barks came after that.

"Remus?" The dog paused and cocked his head to the side. He gave three short barks. "I guess that means he doesn't know?" Harry asked. Sirius gave one bark to that. They four continued to guess names, getting weirder ever minute.

"I know, Voldemort! I mean why wouldn't you want to tell him?" Ron said laughing. Sirius gave his bark of a laugh, and chose to ignore the question.

"NO!" Ginny shouted. "I've got the best… Bellatrix!" The teens collapsed into peals of laughter. The great dog jumped up and down, and threw himself onto the pile of kids.

"What is going on in here? For the last half an hour all I have heard is giggles!" Mrs. Weasley said as she poked her head into the boy's room. She seemed mad, but her smile said otherwise.

"Sorry, but we've just missed Harry so much. And now we can't stop making jokes out of everything!" Hermione smoothly lied. Molly bought it, she turned and headed back down to the kitchen.

"Well don't have too much fun!" After they heard her footsteps fade away, the laughter burst out once more. Several minutes later, every one of them was holding their stomachs in pain.

"Laughing… hurts… so… bad!" Ron said gasping for breath. When they could breathe normal again, Harry noticed something.

"Where's Sirius?" They four looked around, but found no sign of their dog. Harry led the group down the stairs, and into the kitchen.

"We should spread out. So it'll be easier to find him." Hermione suggested.

"I'll check the back yard." Ron said.

"I'll go with him. It's pretty big." Ginny piped up. Hermione called main floor and front yard, so Harry had second and attic.

"Harry! Hermione!" Ron yelled out twenty minutes later. His voice was just loud enough for Hermione to hear from the kitchen. She hollered up the stairs.

"Harry! I think Ron's found him!" The raven haired boy leaned over the railing to hear his friend. When she finished relaying the news, he jumped onto the banister and slid down.

"I've always wanted to do that!" he said before grabbing her hand and leading the laughing girl outside.

"Harry…" Ginny said running up to him. "I'm sorry." The boy couldn't respond, he just pushed past her and raced to his best friend.

"Ron…?" He asked weakly.

A/N: hope you liked it. Not my best ever, I know. But it's not horrible I hope. If you like, please review. Because I see on the stats that a lot of people read, but only two have reviewed. It's slightly depressing. 


	3. One special dog

Disclaimer: Since I don't remember if I did one anyother time… Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry Potter, Potter, Potter, isn't mine, mine, mine, what a shaaaaame!!!!!!! (sung to the tune of a song I can't think of at the moment… so just make one up!)

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"He was just laying there… curled up into a ball! I have no clue what happened!" Ron said, holding the dogs head in his lap. Harry kneeled beside them.

"B-but… how will anyone k-know what's wrong!" Harry stammered out.

"Mrs. Weasley might know…" She said worriedly. Harry stared at her.

"Hermione, she thinks he's just a normal dog, when their in pain and can't figure out why they… they…" Harry desperately pulled Sirius closer to his body. The dog let out a pathetic moan. "'Mione!" Harry screamed. Sirius gave a soft bark, and some blood came out.

"It looks as though something's wrong with his stomach!" Ron said. Ginny had been staring in shock at the scene.

"I'll get Remus!" She said suddenly. The red head raced away towards the burrow. Hermione conjured a stretcher while Ron and Harry carefully moved him onto it.

Being as careful as they could, they two boys picked the stretcher up. Sirius moaned in pain and started twitching slightly. Hermione began petting the dog's head, speaking comforting words to try and sooth him. Molly ran out to meet them as they stepped through the door.

"What in the name of Merlin is going on? Ginny came running in here screaming like a banshee that Remus needed to get over here quick…" Mrs. Weasley stopped her ranting as she caught sight of the dog. Her hand flew to her mouth and her eyes grew wide.

"Mum, this may be a weird request, but we need you to leave for a while." Ron asked slowly. His mother stared at him in shock. Harry shot a warning look at his friend, remembering Sirius not wanting her to know.

"There's just some things we need to talk about with Lupin… and it would be slightly awkward if you were there… no offence!" Hermione said, quickly coming to the rescue. Molly nodded her head and went outside to sit in the lawn. The boys carried Sirius into the living room, where Remus and Ginny were waiting.

"Remus!" Harry cried desperately. "Please don't ask questions yet, just help us!" The old professor walked over to the dog, a concerned look on his face.

Steadily and silently the man cast many healing charms on the dog, checking many different parts of his body. After twenty minutes, Remus announced he was alright.

"I'm not sure what caused it, and I don't know if I completely fixed it.. but he's alright for now." The man smiled at his former students.

As if to prove him right, the dog lifted his head off of the pillow and rubbed it against Remus' chest. The man automatically began to rub the side of the dogs head. Sirius' leg began to shake uncontrollable.

"Yeah, you missed that, didn't you." It wasn't a question, which confused the teens even more.

"Er… Remus?" Hermione asked, wondering if he already knew about the secret.

"There's something we need to tell you about Meatloaf…" Ginny began, looking to Harry. Just as the boy opened his mouth Remus held up a hand and smiled.

"Meatloaf? What sort of name is that?" Remus gave a short laugh, still looking at the dog fondly.

"My cousin names him…" Harry said with a disgusted face.

"You look just like Sirius…" He said with a tight voice. Struggling a little, Sirius placed his front paws on his best friends chest. Doing the same thing he'd done with Harry, Sirius stared the man dead in the eye.

They sat there for a few minutes, just looking at each other, when Remus suddenly wrapped the dog in a tight hug.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny sat on the couch watching amusedly as Remus and Sirius were on the floor. The man looked as though he were 10 years younger. Molly came in the check on them every half hour, smiling happily at Remus' obvious joy. Though she never suspected the true reason, she just assumed it reminded him of Sirius.

'Poor dear.' She thought sadly to herself before retreating to the kitchen again.

Arthur came home late, and jumped in surprise at what he found.

Ron and Hermione were laying at opposite ends of the couch, feet tangled, Ginny was in the armchair, curled into a tight ball. But what shocked him the most was who was on the floor. Harry was curled up near Remus, who was also slightly curled, and between them was a hug black dog.

'Merlin, if I hadn't seen Sirius die myself I might believe that was him…' The man though with a small laugh. He walked into the kitchen and found Molly asleep at the counter.

"Molly dear, let's go upstairs." She stirred slight and opened an eye.

"Did you see the kids?" The woman asked tiredly before standing up slowly.

"Yes, who's the dog?" The couple made their way towards the stairs.

"His name's Snuffles. Apparently he followed Harry's cousin home one night and grew attached to Harry." Mrs. Weasley attempted and failed to stifle a yawn. "Goodnight, Arthur."

"Goodnight Molly."

Thump, thump.

Harry opened his eyes slightly.

Thump, thump.

His vision was obscured by a black furry object.

Thump, thump, thump.

'What is that noise?' suddenly it all clicked, he was at the burrow, and Sirius was with him!

"Snuffles, if your tail hits me one more time I'll hex it off!" Harry joked. Sirius yelped playfully and ran off towards Remus, who'd moved across the room in the middle of the night. A foot away, the dog pounced. Landing hard on his target. The sleeping man jumped awake.

"Sirius!" He yelled before his face fell. Harry quickly rolled over and pretended to be asleep.

"Hey there." Remus said quietly to the dog. "Sorry about that, it's just he used to do that to wake me up everyday… you look so much like him." Snuffles cocked his head while the man reminisced.

Sirius barked after a minute to get the attention back to him. The enormous dog ran off to the kitchen. Harry (still feigning sleep) and Remus listened as a door opened and closed. Several bangs and clanks were heard. A sloshing noise was made, then the sound of padded feet made it's way back towards the living room.

A bowl of cereal was balanced on Sirius' head. In him mouth was the box, incase a refill was needed. Remus stared in shock as the black dog carefully laid down the bowl in front of him, with the skill of someone who'd done this often.

"But… but…" Sirius once again put his paws on Remus' shoulders, though was sitting down across from him this time. Remus dropped his jaw when the dog rolled his eyes. "S-sirius?" He asked weakly. The dog jumped around in a circle, nearly knocking over the bowl several times.

'How many times am I going to have to reconvince him?' Sirius thought, knowing he wouldn't really care if he had to do it every time they saw each other.

Harry decided it would be a good time to wake up now. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny also stretched, appearing tired. But after a moment they were wide awake.

'I guess they were listening too.' Harry thought to himself.

"Who brought the cereal?" Ron asked, faking a sleepy voice.

"Snuffles, he used to do this whenever one of the other Marauders were sick…" He rubbed the dogs head fondly. "Well, I really must be going…" He said in a sad voice. "I'll be seeing you later, good day." The older man walked to the fireplace and threw in some green powder. With a last look at his best friend, the man shouted his address and vanished.

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A/N: I know I said Saturday, but we had a forensics meet!!!! my partner and I got third place in duet acting!! Yea us! I'll either be updating every week, or every other… if there's a definite answer or a reason I can't make that, I'll put why on my profile! Please review…. I love them!!!

AHHH! Power outages!!! I really hope this works...


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